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Likewise. I am so jealous of one of my friends who has a salary I could only ever dream of. He's bought multiple mac products in the last 12 months and I am betting that one of these will be on his desk by the end of the week. He's having a look at one this afternoon.

In the meantime I am trying to work out how long I can survive with just a netbook and a minimum of cameras if I sell off all my Mac stuff (but NOT the iPad), and my K-5 and lenses. Because its going to take that, and more, for me to get it. I want the max specced top model... of course. LOL.

That remains to be seen. There's a lot more to having a good screen for photographers than resolution. The range of the color gamut is one of those things. Historically, Apple hasn't done really well in that area. Until their new improved displays came out, Macbooks only displayed about 60% of the color gamut. Even the new improved displays only do 80%. I can't find a number for what this new display does. Sony, on the otherhand, has been shipping laptops with 13" displays with 1920x1200 resolution that can display the entire 100% of the color gamut for years now. Combine that with the quad RAID SSDs their little laptops can be equipped with and that's been the portable Photoshop dream machine for years now.

All-Pro

The retina MBP does not have the matte screen option, which is a deal breaker for me. I'm actually more interested in the high capacity SSD drives (up to 768 GBs). Nonetheless, my current MBP is already great and I use an external monitor for more serious image processing.

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The retina MBP does not have the matte screen option, which is a deal breaker for me. I'm actually more interested in the high capacity SSD drives (up to 768 GBs). Nonetheless, my current MBP is already great and I use an external monitor for more serious image processing.

I don't much like glossy either, but these days if you want OSX (and I do), its the only choice. My current MBP has glossy and although I would have preferred matte (whcih wasn't an option), its not as bad as I expected it to be. I also am considering doing the external screen thing instead of getting the new MBP, much as I want that beast, financially its going to be impossible, whereas a screen is not. I'll probably use the funds I would have used for the MBP to get a 27" Thunderbolt screen.

All-Pro

I don't much like glossy either, but these days if you want OSX (and I do), its the only choice. My current MBP has glossy and although I would have preferred matte (whcih wasn't an option), its not as bad as I expected it to be. I also am considering doing the external screen thing instead of getting the new MBP, much as I want that beast, financially its going to be impossible, whereas a screen is not. I'll probably use the funds I would have used for the MBP to get a 27" Thunderbolt screen.

LOL I did, and I have been looking for a suitable screen for ages, but the ones I want are all just as expensive as the thunderbolt, but lacking the advantage of a single plug for audio and screen etc, whilst also having the magsafe plug. I'd have to have a hengedock as well as a set of external speakers, I think, for the others.

I understand that the thunderbolt/led screens may not be up to scratch for serious photographic editing, but you need to remember that this is just a hobby for me. I'm never going to be selling my stuff, or working as a photographer, its just something for fun. So having a good screen which might not be as great as some of the others is probably fine, for my purposes.

In any case, I'm heading down to Sydney on Saturday to visit my friend and go shopping with him while we both drool over the new retina MBP, and take it from there. They didnt have any stock the other day when he went in to the Hornsby Apple store.

All-Pro

LOL I did, and I have been looking for a suitable screen for ages, but the ones I want are all just as expensive as the thunderbolt, but lacking the advantage of a single plug for audio and screen etc, whilst also having the magsafe plug. I'd have to have a hengedock as well as a set of external speakers, I think, for the others.

I understand that the thunderbolt/led screens may not be up to scratch for serious photographic editing, but you need to remember that this is just a hobby for me. I'm never going to be selling my stuff, or working as a photographer, its just something for fun. So having a good screen which might not be as great as some of the others is probably fine, for my purposes.

In any case, I'm heading down to Sydney on Saturday to visit my friend and go shopping with him while we both drool over the new retina MBP, and take it from there. They didnt have any stock the other day when he went in to the Hornsby Apple store.

Hall of Famer

My brother is getting one, but the following plus the glossy screen make it a nonstarter for me (source):

Apple, in order to fit the massive battery inside the new MBPwRD and shrink the physical size, has gone completely proprietary component wise. The SSD drive isn’t a 2.5-inch drive, and is likely different from the MBA’s. That 8GB of RAM that comes standard is soldered into the logic board (better upgrade to 16GB out of the box). Also, the Display and top part of the case are a single unit and the giant battery inside is glued in. Apple is known for the lengths they’re willing to go to make their products impervious to tinkering (pentalobe screws anyone?), but they’ve reached a new level with the MBPwRD.​

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Been to look today, reaaly gorgeous, esp when you scoote between standard mbp and retina. But i also scooted to the led and thunderbolt screens and find those acceptable. the thing about the retina screen is that the highest res is actuallyy v difficult for ppl with visual deficits to see (teenytiny fonts), however it looks gorgeous on every resolution, even 1280x800. i bet the thunderbolt screen does, too. Contemplating a compromise... keep my current 2011 13" mbp, replace the HD with an SSD of tyhe biggest size i can afford, for OS and apps like photoshop and lightroom, remove the optical drive and put a 1or2TB standard HD in that slot for photos, music etc. Get 27" ext screen, and boost RAM to 8, or even 16, which is not recommended by apple but which is doable, according to mactracker. I think the overall cost will still come in under the cost of the new mbp. Sums need to be done, but i can do option 2 in bits, whereas with the mbp, id be getting the very base model...